Tuesday 21 July 2015 11:51, UK
South Africa's strength in depth is set to be heavily tested when they host New Zealand in the Rugby Championship at Ellis Park on Saturday.
Crestfallen by their shock 24-20 loss to Australia on the last play of their match in Brisbane, the Springboks are also licking their wounds from the game.
Captain and line-out general Victor Matfield was forced off with a hamstring strain midway through the first half and flanker Marcell Coetzee suffered a knee injury in the final stages.
Prop Jannie du Plessis also came off the field following a head knock and flanker Francois Louw suffered a nasty cut to his mouth.
Although we played some brilliant rugby at times, our execution also let us down and I think we left two tries out there, right at the end of the first half and midway through the second
"There were lots of hard knocks out there and all these injuries will certainly test our depth, but the guys next in line will have to show what they've got and stand up next Saturday," said Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer.
"We're already without experienced players such as Jean de Villiers, Fourie du Preez, Duane Vermeulen and Willem Alberts, but we always wanted to use the Tests in the Rugby Championship to see what depth we have and there will probably be more changes next week."
Pieter-Steph du Toit is set to join the squad on Monday and his knee injury will also be reassessed, however with only three fit locks left in the squad, Meyer has also called upon veteran lock Flip Van der Merwe.
"Flip is very experienced and can cover both lock positions, so it made sense to pro-actively assess our options and bring him in," added Meyer.
"We've had a great discussion and he has made himself available to play for the Springboks, which I'm very grateful for. Flip has always put his body on the line for the Boks and it will be great to have him back in the fold."
Meyer said it was another heart-breaking loss to the Wallabies after losing in similar fashion last year.
"It's heart-breaking to lose like that for a second year running in Australia, but we simply can't dwell on it and have to take some harsh but valuable lessons to heart.
"Losing our captain early was tough and we finished the match with eight players who were playing in their 10th Test or fewer than that.
"It's not an excuse - we will all be better for it and we will have to look at ways to overcome this.
"Although we played some brilliant rugby at times, our execution also let us down and I think we left two tries out there, right at the end of the first half and midway through the second.
"We probably lacked some experience at the end when we needed to close the match, but we've said from the word go this season that we wanted to use our five matches in the build-up to the Rugby World Cup to get ready."
